When Simon Nankin bought this Prahran apartment a few years ago, it was claustrophobic, dated, and ‘in desperate need of some love and attention’.

As a project manager for Nightingale Housing, Simon was eager to get stuck into a renovation of his own, with a vision to overhaul the beige interiors, dark cabinetry, and improve the two-storey home’s awkward floorplan.

Now, the home is completely unrecognisable: sporting a sleek kitchen, old-school charm, and a unexpectedly moody powder room hidden behind a door.

‘I definitely went into the project with my eyes wider than my wallet and had to revisit my budget quite a few times throughout the course of the project,’ Simon says.

The sleek design vision

‘I was drawn to the opportunity to open up the ground floor by creating a larger connection between the kitchen and living room,’ Simon says, explaining his choice to knock down the dividing wall. ‘The previous layout didn’t fully take advantage of the northern aspect and sight lines to the mature trees in my courtyard and common garden.’

Inspired by the use of green and retro tiles in the existing interiors, he came up with a modern palette featuring stainless steel benches, refinished timber floors, and dark green Laminex joinery.

He designed new joinery for the kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms to maximise space, and his friend and architect Maria Yanez turned his sketches into architectural drawings to help communicate the plans with trades and suppliers.

Surprisingly high trade costs

Simon estimated the renovation cost would be around $100,000, based off of commercial rates. But his plans started unravelling when he approached trades for quotes and found they were between 10-20 per cent more than what he’d budgeted.

‘I got a massive reality shock when I received my first quote for the structural works,’ he says. ‘The total estimate was the same as my entire budget for the project.’

‘I originally thought that this project would take at least nine months to complete if I was able to get trades to do the whole project. Ultimately the project timeline pushed out closer to 20 months after I lost a considerable chunk trying to find a contractor to remove the brick wall and deciding to do most of the work myself to try save money.’

It took weeks of speaking to different contractors before Simon found Metropolitan Wall Removals to do the job within his budget.

Pivoting to a DIY approach

Simon ended up ‘doing anything and everything’ he was legally permitted to himself, with help from his family, partner, and friends.

This included managing the project, the demolition, assembly and installation of the joinery, carpentry, most of the painting, caulking/finishing works, landscaping, rendering, and some of the plastering and tiling.

‘I admittedly had only used a drill before starting the renovation, so it was a steep learning curve coming to grips with angle grinders, concrete saws, jackhammers, and wall chasers,’ Simon says.

‘I spent a lot of time watching YouTube and Instagram reels, trying to observe the techniques used by the professionals. I saved a lot of money by doing most of the works myself, however, I grossly underestimated the time commitment required. I was working to 10-11pm Monday to Friday after work and full weekends for a solid 6-8 months to finish the project.’

Lessons learned

‘There were a lot of things I didn’t consider, such as the amount of preparation work, manual labour required in-between the different trades coming to site, and the quantity of quotes and the vetting required before engaging a subcontractor. I should have also obtained full trade pricing coverage for the project earlier on in the project (or even before starting), as this would have made a massive difference when putting together my budget and determining my scope of works,’ Simon adds.

Doing so much of the manual labour himself was a huge challenge but Simon says in the end, it was well worth it. And he has a whole new skillset to show for it!

He assembled and installed the flat-pack style joinery with the help of some friends, which saved him over $10,000. And in pulling up the old floorboards, he found some beautiful green ceramic door handles: ‘I luckily had the exact amount for all of the bedroom cabinetry and powder room doors. That was good karma and blew my mind.’

Budget breakdown

Removal of wall between hall and living room: $ 33,457.90
Removal of kitchen joinery and appliances: $2,000
Sanding/Re-finishing of floors: $6,000
New kitchen (joinery, appliances, tiles, bench, splashback): $23,182
New toilet, sink, FF&E, lighting, joinery to under stairs: $4,111.28
New wardrobes to bedrooms: $10,175
New lighting: $3,226.20
Cupboard: $1,950
Ground floor bathroom works: $29,513.05
Painting: $1,600
General Electrical & Plumbing: $12,250
Hydronic heating: $7,230
Skirtings and doors: $2,000
Rendering: $3,500
Plaster: $8,200
Carpet: $5,284.40
Doors and skirtings: $2,397

Renovation total: $156,076.83